The five most pleasant surprises of 2010

Houston Texans running back Arian Foster has been a pleasant surprise this season; he has gone from being a relative unknown to leading the league in rushing. But he hasn't been the only surprise performer. With five weeks down and 12 to go, let's see where one man thinks Foster ranks among the biggest fantasy football surprises of the 2010 campaign, and how the rest of the season is likely to go for those players.

We'll start things off with the season's No. 5 surprise, and count things down from there. Since my original list of surprises went more than 20 deep, plenty of high-scoring options obviously had to be left out. And by the way, we're keeping things positive here. Let's not discuss the "not-so-fun" surprises, disappointments such as DeAngelo Williams, Greg Jennings and Matt Schaub. We'll have plenty of time down the road for that.

Michael DeHoog/Sports Imagery/Getty ImagesMichael Vick was terrorizing opponents with both his arms and his legs before getting hurt.

5. Michael Vick, QB, Philadelphia Eagles: I think it's safe to say he was off the radar screen to begin the season, while starter Kevin Kolb was taken 12th among quarterbacks in ESPN average live drafts. Oh, how things have changed. Now Kolb is merely holding the job for a recovering Vick, who ranked second among all players (behind only Peyton Manning) through three weeks with 25 standard fantasy points per game before getting injured. Vick and his sore ribs probably won't suit up in Week 6, but after that he's a clear-cut top-10 fantasy quarterback, as he looks better than he ever did with the Atlanta Falcons.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Eric Karabell

Eric Karabell is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He has worked at ESPN since 1997 and covered fantasy sports for ESPN since 2001, specializing in baseball and football. Eric contributes to ESPN The Magazine and appears on a variety of digital platforms for ESPN.com. He has been honored twice as fantasy sports writer of the year by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, his blog was named best fantasy baseball series for 2007 and he was inducted into the inaugural FSWA Hall of Fame class in 2011.

Eric grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, and accordingly, favors all Philly teams first, his fantasy teams second. He previously served as ESPN.com's lead NBA editor, and is a former Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer. Eric is also the author of "The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments," published by Source Books and available in bookstores and online.